The present disclosure generally pertains to sports fitness systems and, more particularly, to stability ball inflation and deflation systems. Stability balls may be used in physical therapy, exercise, general fitness, and sports medicine.
Most stability balls include a small and simple plastic plug that keeps air within the ball when the stability ball is in use. These balls come with a hand pump to fill the ball up with air. It is difficult and time-consuming to fill the ball with air by way of a hand pump. In addition, in order to plug the ball up properly, the pump must be removed from the hole in the stability ball, and the plug must be quickly inserted in the hole before a significant volume of air can escape from the ball.
Some stability balls contain weights within the ball, such as sand, fill or weight slugs to resist the ball from rolling. For example, one stability ball has a weighted slug in a screw cap that screws into a hole on the surface of the ball. This hole is wider so it allows the ball to deflate quicker than the stability balls with a small plastic plug. However, it still has the same issue of inflating quickly and covering the hole in the stability ball before any air can escape.